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Ten Commandments

Exodus 19:2-8   

Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the commandments from the Lord, set them before the elders of the people.  “The people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’” (Exodus 19:8, NRSV)

Brave words!  Words spoken with great fervor and intent by a people recently freed from slavery and witness to the miracle power of God.   A promise doomed to be broken. 
Now before we condemn those people, we need to realize that we too are prone to make some very big promises that are not always kept.  We can get caught up in the moment, carried away by emotions, and pledge ourselves to do things that turnout to be difficult to impossible to keep.   Anyone divorced?  Anyone ever contemplate divorce?  See how easy it is.

Now don’t be too hard on yourself.  Yes, the followers of Moses made an impossible-to-be-kept promise and God knew it.  It was part of the plan!

No one can keep these ten seemingly simple commandments, that’s an essential part of God’s plan of salvation from the start.  The Commandments are not just a set of rules to be kept, but a mirror to remind us that we are sinners.  God does not cruelly set us up for failure, but gives us a reminder of how much we need God.

Perhaps that is why people don’t want to see the Ten Commandments on public buildings.  They do just what they were intended to do, so us how far we have fallen.


But the “Good News” is that we were never really expected to keep them. God does not cruelly set us up for failure!  God knew then, just as God knows now, who we are and what we are capable of.  In the light of that knowledge, God’s plan could not rest on the possibility that we could follow rules.  No, the lynch pin of God’s plan is not in our abilities but God’s Grace through Jesus Christ.  This is the gift, not to be earned, but simply to be received.

The Joy in the journey is found in a God who offers us grace in the face of failure.

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